Career and Technical Education (CTE) provides students with the academic and technical skills they need to compete in the global workforce and/or to continue their education at the post-secondary level after graduation.

Students are offered a variety of courses through a comprehensive study of one of the 16 career concentrations identified and approved by the Texas Education Agency (listed below).

• Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources
• Architecture and Construction
  
• Arts, A/V Technology, and Communications
  
• Business, Management and Administration
  
• Education and Training
  
• Finance
  
• Government and Public Administration *
  
• Health Science
  
• Hospitality and Tourism
  
• Human Services
  
• Information Technology
  
• Law, Public Safety, Corrections, and Security
  
• Manufacturing
  
• Marketing, Sales, and Service
  
• Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
  
• Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics

Career concentrations are designed to follow a coherent sequence of courses in a graduation plan, and CTE employees collaborate with teachers and other departments to design, implement, and assess core and career-program offerings.

Basic and advanced academic classes are integrated with technical skills courses to allow students to identify possible career options and to give them the transferable skills and knowledge they need to succeed.

For more information, click the links at right.

* Please note that HISD offers no courses in the career concentration of Government and Public Administration at this time, so it is not listed or described below.

First, determine which schools offer courses in the career concentration (or “cluster”) that your child wants to pursue by exploring the links on CTE’s Curriculum page .

Each description provides a list of the courses available in that career concentration, as well as which campuses offer those particular courses, and which career pathways are associated with each cluster.

Next, call the school your child wishes to attend and ask to speak with the career counselor there. He or she will be able to provide you with detailed instructions on how to enroll at that campus or to how to request a transfer (whichever applies).

For more information, click the links at right.

Students may earn college credit in one of three different ways by taking Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses: Dual Credit, Advanced Technical Credit, or Tech Prep Credit.

What’s the difference?

• Dual Credit courses are the only ones that allow students to earn both high-school and college credit-hours simultaneously. They are developed and taught by college-approved instructors, and are graded in the same way as college students who take the same course. No prerequisite classes are required.
  
• Advanced Technical Credit courses are developed at the state level and taught by local high-school teachers who have received specialized training. They may only be accepted for college-course credit upon a student’s enrollment in a participating college’s technical degree plan, and students must pass prerequisite classes to enroll.
  
• Tech Prep Credit courses are developed at the local level and are taught by local high-school teachers who have received specialized training. They may only be accepted for college-course credit after a student has enrolled at a participating college, and students must pass prerequisite classes to enroll.
  

Courses of any designation are free and open to eligible juniors and seniors in good academic standing.

How do I know which type of credit my child will earn?

The easiest way to find out is to call your child’s school and ask to speak to a career counselor. He or she will be able to provide you with that information and answer any other questions you may have. Click here to see a chart of all similarities and differences between the three types of credit and here to see a list of six-year dual-credit plans by specialization.

For more information, click the links at right.

Formerly known as “co-op,” Career Preparation is conducted cooperatively by local schools and businesses. Work experience in various types of occupations is received through employment each afternoon under the direction of skilled, competent employers. Each morning, the school provides individual instruction in the various aspects of each student's job in a special class conducted by a teacher-coordinator.

The program carries one-and-a-half units of credit per semester because classroom instruction and on-the-job training are combined. Two consecutive semesters are recommended to complete the program. Students enrolled in these programs may be exempt from physical-education programs but are required to have completed half a unit in Health.

Participating schools include: all high schools

For more information, click the links at right.